Route Setting for the World Cup

I'm not a huge fan of comps or indoor climbing in general, but it's certainly an aspect of the sport that gets a lot of attention. I never really thought about who sets the routes for the mutants that will be climbing in these comps before, so this interview on B3bouldering.com with route setter Chris Danielson was interesting, especially when he says things like: "The third boulder was the least inspiring and a miscalculation from a routesetting perspective." I Imagine there's an insane amount of pressure and nerves when the whole climbing world is paying attention to the holds you selected, and the angle you screwed 'em in at.

New Granite City Topo Available

Stroll on over to Upstate Bouldering to get a new PDF guide for bouldering at Granite City, which is near Cashiers, NC.

I've never been there myself, but look forward to checking it out sometime this summer. If I'm not mistaken, there are a lot of great waterfalls in the area as well, so you can make a pretty killer summer combo trip of bouldering and creek swimming.

Here's a video that shows the rock quality for those who have never been before and are considering the trip.




And here's a Google Map from Asheville (disclaimer: I haven't used these directions myself! Also check out the Upstate Bouldering site for more directions):


View Larger Map


Thanks for the great topo guide, Brad.

Update: Brad dropped some rope climbing beta into the comments:

There are also quiet a few roped routes at Granite City too. There are 2 ways to the mini-gorge in the very back...through some of the crevasses near the Drunk Tank boulder or to the right at the very end of the Back Alley area. The gorge has about 30-40 ft walls with mainly tougher top rope routes (bring a lot of slings/webbing to set anchors on trees at the top). There is also at least one trad route on a pillar in the middle of the crevasse maze, with a set on anchors on the top of the pillar. Bring your sense of adventure and your eye for developing and I'm sure there's a boulder or roped route for everybody.

Linville Gorge Bouldering

I've only been down into the gorge to boulder a couple of times, both without the help of a guide or a map. Even without a guide, it was fun just to wander around and scope out the possibilities. Back when I was there a couple of summers ago, there was very little chalk anywhere; you pretty much found a boulder, chose a line that looked good, and tried to climb. It's a fun adventure and the surroundings are hard to beat. The second time I made the hike in, it was starting to rain so I only got a couple of lines in before we had to bail. So I'm looking forward to exploring more in August after my move to Boone. For now, I thought I'd put together a collection of beta on the area.

First, a few videos to show ya the sweetness that is gorge bouldering. Here are a couple nice ones from DPM:


Linville Gorge North Carolina - Project Day from Werd on Vimeo.


The Wataugan(V12) from Nate Draughn on Vimeo.



Here's the trailer that LVM Rock made for their movie on climbing in the gorge. There's some great footage of the bouldering included, so check it out (and keep an eye out for some of the crazy highballs!):


Summer Ascents 08 from lvmrock on Vimeo.


Now for the beta:

Mike Stam has set up a online guide on his blog that shows problems and locations for TONS of bouldering in Linville Gorge. Mike has been developing problems in the gorge for years, and this site is a great resource for anyone wanting to get down there and explore. Get your adventure bouldering hat on, as well as yer swim trunks, and check out this guide:

movementonstone.blogspot.com

For a bit more info, including obviously important directions into the different bouldering areas, see UpstateBouldering's post on the gorge (Thanks, Brad):

http://upstatebouldering.blogspot.com/2009/10/wnc-local-spot-linville-gorge.html

Boulder photos: Mike Stam


ShareThis

Cute...but odd

Okay, I work in the media industry. I know it's a challenge to find new content areas that haven't been explored. Finding a new niche gets you audience, and audience either gets you paid or gives you warm and fuzzies for getting your word out to the masses. But Cute Climbing Girls of the Week? I ain't no hater, but this just seems like...pandering? Something? Can't quite put my finger on it. But it just seems odd and makes me think some old-school traddy is rolling over in his grave (or van by the river) somewhere. But then, I guess you gotta take any climbing website with a whiskey glass logo with a grain of salt.

Check 'em out: pimpinandcrimpin.com



Photo: pimpinandcrimpin.com

Side note: Since I've been able to climb a lot less lately, I find myself looking at climbing websites a whole lot more. Something's gotta get you through the dry spells, ya know? I may continue to share more of the weird and cool stuff I find out there...

Life changes... and finally, a little time on the rock

Major life changes are happening right now and most of them are pretty exciting, except for my climbing ability (but more on that in a minute). Last week I finally made the decision to attend graduate school. I had been dragging the decision out for some time, party because Melissa wasn't sure if she wanted to go and thus pay out of state tuition. (We both got accepted into the Speech Pathology program at Appstate.) We finally decided last weekend to go for it and do school. Aside from the tuition issue, I just got promoted to Editor at my job from Assistant Editor, and that made it a hard choice, too. I'd been working hard for years to get this promotion, but now I'm walking away after having the promotion for a month to give Speech Patho a try.

I've tried for a long time to find a career that could provide a good fit for climbing, and this seems like a good choice. Decent pay, you can work pretty much anywhere, you can have summers off if you work in the schools, you can do travel therapy. And you also get to help people. So I'm thinking it's worth going for it. Plus, I get the bonus of going back to Boone for a couple more years. The irony is, of course, now that I'm finally getting to go back, I can't climb worth a damn. Oh yeah, that made the decision harder too! Why pursue a career that has more freedom for climbing if I can't climb so well anymore? Hope springs eternal, I guess. Nothing inspires me like climbing, so I just gotta keep hoping I get over this injury stuff. Regardless, life is changing fast. I'll be leaving my job, fixing up and selling my house, and moving to Boone in the next 2 months. As well as completing 2 intense online courses. Whew.

Speaking of injury, it was just about a year ago that I jacked up my shoulder and neck and have been climbing like crap, with differing amounts of pain, ever since. But I have a new plan! For the rest of the summer I'm not climbing anything harder than V2/V3 or 5.10. I feel like I've been both babying my injury then overdoing it over and over again for the last year. So I'm going to try this approach and see if it makes a difference. Build the strength back up slowly, that's the goal.

It worked pretty well this weekend, when I got a chance to quickly run out to the North side boulders at Looking Glass early Sunday morning. I climbed a bunch of easy stuff and had a total blast. There are some really fun problems there, and the place gets so little traffic that it feels really isolated and natural. There are still plants and leaves at the base of the climbs--how often do you see that? Aside from the mank and the bugs (of which there are many) this place is at least a cool summer destination that can be a fun diversion.




Now that the cats out of the bag to work about me going to school, I'll keep updating as things move along. It's a lot of changes, but exciting ones, too. I can't wait to have boulders within a 10-15 minute drive from my house again. Now I just hope I can climb 'em....

It's Summer-Going to the Gorge?... Use This Guide

I just stumbled across this great online resource: It's a webpage guide set up by Mike Stam that shows problems and locations for TONS of sick looking bouldering in Linville Gorge. Mike has been developing problems in the gorge for years, and this site is a great resource for anyone wanting to get down there and explore. Get your adventure bouldering hat on, as well as yer swim trunks, and check out this guide:

movementonstone.blogspot.com


UPDATE: For a bit more info, including obviously important directions into the different bouldering areas, see UpstateBouldering's post on the gorge (Thanks, Brad):

http://upstatebouldering.blogspot.com/2009/10/wnc-local-spot-linville-gorge.html

photo: Mike Stam

Rumbling Bald Cleanup Day June 12th

Chris Dorrity has lined up a work day with the park folks overseeing Rumbling Bald. Here's the lowdown:

We will be able to do a trail / boulder clean-up on the State's property on Saturday, June 12th. Meet at the parking area at 8:30 AM. We will be removing downed trees at the Obscure Area, Hull Area, and Central Boulders.

Let's not miss out on this opportunity to clean up these trees to be ready for next season!

if you want to help out, just show up!

Big Whip!

Is there anything more fun than watching people take giant whips on video? Well, maybe going climbing is more fun, but when you're killing time at work, it doesn't get much better. There's the build up of anticipation because you know they're gonna take the ride--but when? It's good desk-job therapy, so I thought I'd share.

Watch this kid take a HUGE whip on a small TCU on the Cobra Crack (5.14) at Squamish. Oh, and check out the gnarly mono lock at the crux, too.

Climbing Magazine sold...again

Many folks probably know that Climbing magazine has been sold quite a few times in the last few years. Well, now it's been sold again (read more here). Sorry to say it, but in my opinion the magazine is starting to look like a washed up girl that used to be hot that's now been around the block too many times, and gets worse with each new partner. The quality has nose-dived over the last 10 years. At least in this case, the whole of Skram media, the company that owns Climbing (and Urban Climber and UCTV), is going with it to the new owner and not just selling off Climbing. But it's a sad state when something iconic that used to try to represent the best of climbing culture is being bought and sold again and again at the whim of large media companies trying to connect to our specific demographic (while slashing costs and quality), and not out of any apparent joy or love for the sport itself. That said, it looks like the new owners are getting some good folks in place to work on the mag, so maybe the love'll be represented by the staff, if not the owners. Time will tell. But I haven't renewed my subscription in 2 years, and it's gonna take a kick-ass refresh to get me back.

As a side note, if this stuff interests you, check out this interview with the past editor of Climbing. It speaks a lot to why the mag has declined over the years.

Injury rant (tired of these yet?)

Last Thursday I went back to the Walker Creek boulders and my pal Pascal tagged along. We did the usual warmups and then Pascal, being the badass that he is, proceeded to add sit down starts to all of my established problems. Oh, and he also did a straight up top out on Not a Prayer, instead of trending left into easier terrain as I had done. He turned that problem, which was V4-ish, into a V6 at least, I'd say. Nice work, Pascal. It was fun having someone out there to look at the problems with a fresh eye. I hope he goes back soon to try the ridiculous looking project just to the right of Not a Prayer.

So now to the ranting. I got injured when we were at the Boulders. Again. I somehow tweaked my upper back this time. So for 3 days I had shooting pain going across the tops of my shoulders and spine right a the base of the neck. That intense pain has gone away, but the base of my neck is still tweaked to the point where I don't dare go climbing for fear of making it worse. So here's my rant: I don't drink much at all, I don't do drugs, I eat well, I do yoga, PT, I cross train; in short, I'm that annoying type-A guy about being in good shape and trying to do all the right things to climb well. And yet I still get hurt. All of the time. Almost every time I go climbing, it seems. Maybe 15 years of hanging on crimps has caught up with me, but I know other people who are still cranking after 20+ years. And Chris Sharma has climbed a few more routes than me and that mutant's still going strong.

So it appears the answer is to start drinking, eat like shit, stay out late, get an STD, and buy an Xbox. Or, I hear there is some cardio value in a Wii.

I'm trying hard to stay motivated, but damn. I'm just sayin'.

Schizophrenia

Nope, you're not crazy or stuck in a time warp. I've gone back to the old format for this blog. After experimenting with the new style I realized that I didn't like the segmented posts on their own pages. So I'm taking it back to the old school format. I'll be working on updating the images sizes in old posts over the next week or so.

Walker Creek Boulders

I went for a hike with my friend Alex in the National Forest outside of Barnardsville a couple of weeks ago. I was totally psyched to find some boulders along the Walker Creek trail, including one pretty large boulder in particular. I've been back 3 or 4 times now to do some cleaning (there's lots of moss and a few loose flakes) and put up some lines. I've been calling the big boulder 'the sanctuary'; it's near a creek, is shady in the afternoon, and is a short hike in. So far, I've put up about 8 lines from V0 to V4/V5. There is a great warm up wall with a few Vo problems and a 25 foot (or so) v1-ish traverse. On the overhanging wall, the best lines so far are Chakra Khan (V3) and Not a Prayer (v4/V5). It's been a long time since I've been climbing well and these climbs were really dirty for the FA; both of those factors are possibly affecting my ratings, so I look forward to getting consensus. I've also begun work on a really hard line that'll probably be V8 or so. I'm having trouble just making the first moves!

Aside form the Sanctuary boulder, there are some more rocks up the trail at about 10 minutes in. I haven't gotten a chance to go back and clean these up yet. My feeling is there are probably more boulders out here if I found all of these right next to the trails.



A few videos (and I've already caught hell from numerous people for wearing the tank top, but feel free to add to the abuse) :

The Path (V2-ish), Sanctuary, Walker's Creek from Frixtion on Vimeo.

A fun problem that would be way harder if it weren't for the HUGE footholds. I almost fall off the top when I grab a bunch of dirt instead of rock.

Chakra Khan (V3), the Sanctuary boulder, Walker's Creek from Frixtion on Vimeo.

This is the first ascent of a new line on the Sanctaury at Walker's Creek boulders, Barnardville, NC. Sorry for the hands getting cut off. This more about showing the new boulder.